Chelsea confirm Tuchel’s coaching staff as three join alongside new head coach

Thomas Tuchel has brought just two coaches with him to Chelsea, which is a rather small number given some of our recent head regime changes — Antonio Conte, Maurizio Sarri, and Frank Lampard all practically revamped the entire backroom.

The new faces alongside Tuchel are assistants Arno Michels and Zsolt Lőw, as well as data analyst Benjamin Weber. All three have worked with the new Chelsea head coach for several years now, across multiple appointments.

Michels, who is several years older, has been with Tuchel since the very start, from Mainz (2009-14) through Borussia Dortmund (2015-17) and PSG (2018-20). The 53-year-old played in the German regional divisions throughout the 90s before going into coaching and becoming Tuchel’s right-hand-man over the past decade.

Similarly, video and data analyst Benjamin Weber has been with Tuchel since the start. Weber, who’s just 37, had been employed in that capacity at Mainz even before Tuchel arrived (i.e. worked with Jürgen Klopp), but has since stuck with the Chelsea head coach in his subsequent appointments.

Last and certainly not least, we have Zsolt Lőw, the other assistant. He’s only worked in that capacity with Tuchel since PSG, but also played for Tuchel as a left back at Mainz before retiring as a player in 2011. Lőw then joined the Red Bull football machine, serving as youth and assistant coach at RB Salzburg (under Adi Hütter), then switching to RB Leipzig for a few years to work with Ralf Rangnick and Ralph Hasenhüttl.

On a personal note, it’s pretty cool to see a fellow Hungarian sitting in the Chelsea dugout. Lőw, who got his start at Újpest before being deemed good enough to make the jump to German football, was capped 25 times by Hungary. (Maybe he can help us get Dominik Szoboszlai in the future!)

With only a few new faces coming in, the Chelsea backroom is still filled with familiar names.

While assistants Jody Morris and Chris Jones have both left alongside Frank Lampard, first-team coaches Anthony Barry and Joe Edwards remain — they led the interim session before Tuchel’s official announcement — while the goalkeeper coaches (Hilário and James Russell), fitness and strength coaches (Matt Birnie, Will Tullett, and Adam Burrows), and the entire medical staff (still led by Dr. Paco Biosca) have also stayed. No changes in the loan and academy departments either.